Can (defective) PSU affect quality of sound card output?

[Stefan1971HH]

Hello, 

the sound of my Asus Xonar Essence STX, connected to an Edifier 2.1 Box Set, 
has once been brilliant. Recently, the sound has increasingly lost dynamics 
and turned more and more "flat" and lifeless. 

Is it possible, that this caused by an unstable power supply unit (since other things, 
that may point to this, such as temporarily irresponsive or "disappearing" HDs, 
happened in the same time)? 

Or could power supply problems only lead to the card not working at all? 

Thanks

[sandyk]

53 minutes ago, Stefan1971HH said:

Hello, 

the sound of my Asus Xonar Essence STX, connected to an Edifier 2.1 Box Set, 
has once been brilliant. Recently, the sound has increasingly lost dynamics 
and turned more and more "flat" and lifeless. 

Is it possible, that this caused by an unstable power supply unit (since other things, 
that may point to this, such as temporarily irresponsive or "disappearing" HDs, 
happened in the same time)? 

Or could power supply problems only lead to the card not working at all? 

Thanks

 

How is the internal Asus soundcard connected to it,(Coax SPDIF for example)  and what is used to power the Edifier 2.1 ? 

 This Asus soundcard should already have good internal PSU regulation, so it seems unlikely to be due to the PSU of the P.C.

[GUTB]

If the motherboard uses regulated power supplies I don’t think an unstable PSU would necessarily cause degraded quality in a soundcard, BUT if the PSU is generating a lot of noise that IS getting into the card than yes it could effect quality.

 

First try this experiment: plug your PC into another room’s outlet (that’s on a different circuit) with nothing else plugged in or turned on (lights, TVs, heaters, etc). Check sound quality. This will eliminate the possibility of something outside of your PC injecting a lot of noise.

 

Another thing to do is to MAKE SURE the Windows mixer isn’t screwing you over; make sure your players are set to exclusively control audio. You may have set that up in the past and something changed it back.

[sandyk]

13 minutes ago, GUTB said:

Another thing to do is to MAKE SURE the Windows mixer isn’t screwing you over; make sure your players are set to exclusively control audio. You may have set that up in the past and something changed it back.

 

Yes, some Windows 10 Updates can do that !

[mansr]

8 hours ago, Stefan1971HH said:

Is it possible, that this caused by an unstable power supply unit (since other things, that may point to this, such as temporarily irresponsive or "disappearing" HDs, happened in the same time)?

If you suspect your PSU is broken, you should get that fixed before doing anything else. If it gets worse, it might end up damaging something or causing you to lose data.

[4est]

56 minutes ago, mansr said:

...causing you to lose data.

Or worse.

[sandyk]

1 hour ago, mansr said:

If you suspect your PSU is broken, you should get that fixed before doing anything else. If it gets worse, it might end up damaging something or causing you to lose data.

In many cases, the +12V and +5V for all HDDs get their power from the same place in the PSU , using separate feeds , so you would expect a general failure , not just one HDD disappearing.

 A faulty, or high resistance  Molex plug/socket on  one feed could cause this to happen ?

[Stefan1971HH]

11 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

How is the internal Asus soundcard connected to it,(Coax SPDIF for example)  and what is used to power the Edifier 2.1 ? 

 

 The Card uses a Molex connector, the box set gets external power (not from the PSU)

[audiventory]

15 hours ago, Stefan1971HH said:

Or could power supply problems only lead to the card not working at all? 

 

PSU impact to all modules, including sound card. Digital modules issues have lesser visible to an user.

 

PSU may be checked by connection of voltmeter and oscilloscope to power lines.